It was a glorious sunny day on Sunday, and I went out with Nikki on her
harness. They are building a new road close to our house, and at this stage
in the construction, there are huge piles of sand around there. Of course,
Nikki took the opportunity to have a nice long sand bath:

http://tinyurl.com/3fjrp (there are two pictures, click next for the second
one).

She felt gritty the whole afternoon after that, but now she finally seems to
have cleaned herself up.

On both Saturday and Sunday, people who were walking by complimented Nikki
on how neatly she walks in her harness. I had to check that it was, in fact,
Nikki on the end of the leash.

I hadn't realised that she has become so well-behaved. It took several years
for her to reach this point, when we can actually take a proper walk,
without her darting this way and that and trying to drag me into the brush
or up a tree. When I first put the harness on her when she was still a
kitten, she would fall over and become paralysed. Now she comes running to
me when I jingle her harness. We seem to have reached an understanding. If
we both respect each other needs, we can both enjoy our little outings.